


My Heart Was Screamin' at My Bones

by brassmama



Series: Closer 'verse [2]
Category: Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Comic Book Store, Fic that plays with meta, M/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, the long awaited sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 07:02:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brassmama/pseuds/brassmama
Summary: Phil Coulson was a ranger. In several other worlds, he became an Avenger (of sorts). In this world, he runs a comic book store.Nick Fury used to be Marcus Johnson. Then he was a spy. His story plays out similarly across most worlds.Clint Barton is an idiot. But this isn't really his fault.





	My Heart Was Screamin' at My Bones

Phil Coulson had met Marcus Johnson when they had joined the Rangers. Phil would only admit to it after copious amounts of booze -though assuming that threshold was met, he would share freely if asked,  but his first thought upon seeing Marcus had been something along the lines of ‘ _ what I would give to climb him like a tree _ .’ 

Marcus, much to Phil’s chagrin, loved to tell Phil’s family and friends that Phil’s first words to him had been a pick up line. The worst part was it wasn’t a lie. Phil had sat down across from Marcus in the mess and actually said, “Hi, I’m Coulson. So, when you cross your arms, does that count as holstering your guns?”

Marcus had sworn never to let Phil forget that he was the biggest dork to ever grace the planet, all through their enlistment, all through university, and all during their re-enlistment.

Phil and Marcus were, at times, huge balls of repressed emotions.

And dealing with being gay and bisexual men, respectively, in the army with its stupid DADT policy was a scrapbook of near misses and lucky strikes. Sometimes it was hard to know when someone was going to turn out to be one of  _ those _ assholes who took part in the Tell part of the whole practice in stupidity. Phil and Nick tried to play thing closer to the vest, but they did know that they loved each other. Maybe never as boyfriends or lovers, but definitely as family and as best friends. 

They had each other’s backs through Phil’s father passing away. Through Marcus’ mother being diagnosed with stage 2 ovarian cancer. Through Phil’s sister being left by her fiance, pregnant and trying to juggle her last year of university and her two jobs. Through Fubar’d missions in places they could never tell anyone they’d been. Phil never wanted to lose this, and he figured he’d rather keep things platonic, at least until they’d left the Rangers. Maybe then… Maybe something could happen. 

But regardless, Phil knew this man was going to be his best friend until they died.

\---

Phil Coulson knew it was time to leave the Rangers when he nearly died in a firefight on his niece’s birthday. 

General unrest had been creating a lot of intelligence buzz over the last week, and the ambush was expected. Just, not as large a force as they were met with. Phil didn’t remember most of what happened, because he took a hit in the chest and spent it lying in the sand, vaguely worried about missing his scheduled Skype call with Marj and Emily while Marcus spent the firefight with a pressure bandage pressed to the wound, screaming at Phil. 

“Damn it, Cheese, don’t you die. Your sister will come after you and then me if you die on Emily’s birthday. Don’t die. Phil. Phil? Phil!”

Phil felt the sand drop out from under him and was dragged into unconsciousness.

…

…

...

Phil wasn’t sure how long it took to fight his way back up. He woke to Marcus walking a hole in the floor. He could hear the boots squeak on the linoleum. He worked to open his eyes, getting one eyelid cracked enough to confirm it was his best friend. He opened his mouth to find it full of cotton.

“Water?” He coughed. His throat was dry.

Marcus just about jumped out of his skin. “Phil?”

Phil coughed again, “Yes. But Water?”

“Yeah.”

Phil, still shaking himself as awake as he could, forced himself to not think too hard. Thinking hurt almost as bad as his chest. Marcus fed him some ice chips, silent and clearly thinking about whatever had had him pacing. Neither felt like talking, so Phil let the intimate moment stand until one of the medics came around and saw that he’d woken. A doctor wasn’t too far behind and shooed Marcus away.

The shot had lodged in his collar bone, fracturing the bone, and Phil had been stabilized before he was flown to a base in Germany for surgery. He had about six months of rehab to look forward to, but he would make a full recovery if he stuck with it. After the doc left, Marcus came back in.

“What chips did you have to call in to get a ride with me all the way up here?” was the first thing Phil asked.

Phil figured it was probably ALL of Marcus’ collected favors, because Marcus wasn’t  _ un _ important back with their unit and their mission was ongoing; it wasn’t a minor thing for him drop it all and fly to Europe. Considering he might still be in trouble when he got back.

Marcus shrugged, “Pretty much all of them, and called mom to get some the strings pulled.”

Phil wished he wasn’t still feeling like shit or he’d have whistled. Marcus’ mother had been a power player in the CIA, or so she had told her son’s best friend, and had more clout than Phil really believed a single person could. Not that he was going to complain.

“That’s nice of her.”

“Cheese, if she could, she’d be on the next flight over here. You’re her favorite.” 

Phil huffed. “Maybe we should elope to Vegas already. Nothing would make her happier, y’know.”

Marcus’ smile faltered. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Again, silence.

“Is something else wrong? You haven’t torn me a new one for getting hurt, and you haven’t talked smack about when I’m back on duty.”

“You’re not going to be back on duty, man, you know that. You’re gonna get shipped home and you can make use of the business degree you got yourself.” Marcus sounded annoyed. Frustrated.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Phil realized that Marcus wasn’t looking at him.

“You nearly died, Phil.”

“But, I didn’t-”

“I thought you did, for a minute. The medic couldn’t find your pulse. I lost-” Marcus stood, shoving the chair back; it teetered without falling over. “You wouldn’t have been there if you hadn’t been following me.”

“I was there on orders, Marcus. So were you. I wasn’t there because of you.” Though, Phil definitely wouldn’t have re-joined the Rangers if he hadn’t been dead set to keep at Marcus’ six. He’d have used up his G.I. money on his degree, and not re-enlisted. So, maybe that was a lie.

Marcus shook his head. “That’s not true and you know it.”

“You’re not the one who shot me. I’m pretty sure you’re the one who saved me.”

Marcus shook his head. “You wouldn’t have needed saved if you hadn’t been out there in the sand with me.”

Phil’s nostrils flared. “Marcus, we’ve been through some serious shit together, and we both know I’m the smart one, so listen to me now. I’m a grown ass man and I have been able to make my own choices for quite awhile now. Get with the program, stop being a dick, and respect that.”

Marcus sat back down, exhaling what seemed to be all of his pent up frustration in a single breath. “Fine. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid when you get home, alright?”

Phil smirked.

“Don’t you dare quote Captain America at me, Phil, or so help me, I will leave right now.” 

“Deal.” Phil still managed to quote some old comics at Marcus the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a thing. 
> 
> I posted the first story of the Closer'verse... almost 4 years to the day. Hopefully this fic is updated in a more timely manner.
> 
> Enjoy!


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